Hebrew word · H1228

בַּקְבֻּק

vakbuk

flask

A narrow-necked pottery decanter or jug used for pouring liquids. It occurs only three times in the Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings 14:3 (a jug of honey) and Jeremiah 19:1, 10.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

flask, bottle

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Jeremiah 19:1

Range of meaning

A narrow-necked pottery decanter or jug used for pouring liquids. It occurs only three times in the Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings 14:3 (a jug of honey) and Jeremiah 19:1, 10. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) connect it with the root bqq, 'to empty, pour out, lay waste', and many take the word as imitating the gurgling sound of liquid poured from a narrow neck.

Against the English

KJV 'bottle' makes a modern reader think of glass, which is wrong for Iron Age Judah. 'Jar' (BSB, NIV) suggests a wide-mouthed storage vessel. 'Flask' or 'decanter' is closest to the shape: a narrow neck, a round body, made for pouring.

How it drifted

In 1611 'bottle' meant any container for liquid, including leather and earthenware ones. Since then it has narrowed to mean glass or plastic.

Used elsewhere in the period

Archaeologists have dug up plenty of fired clay decanters with narrow necks from Iron Age II Judah (8th–6th centuries BC). Philip King's archaeological companion to Jeremiah identifies the baqbuq with this type. The Septuagint renders it bikos, an ordinary word for an earthenware jar or wine vessel.

Similar words

Where it appears

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 14:3 וּבַקְבֻּ֥ק and a jar of

    Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the boy.”

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 19:1 בַקְבֻּ֖ק a bottle of

    This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take some of the elders of the people and leaders of the priests,

    Here: A narrow-necked clay pouring jug for water, wine or honey (1 Kings 14:3). The name probably imitates the glugging sound liquid makes as it comes out, and it sets up God's pun in 19:7: 'I will pour out / empty (baqqōtî) the plans of Judah'.

  2. Jeremiah 19:10 הַבַּקְבֻּ֑ק the bottle

    Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the men who accompany you,

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.